El Lissitzky, The Topology of Typography – Glenn Goluska, 1983

The Topography of Typography was originally written in German and published under the title “Topographie Der Typographie” in Merz No. 4., (Hanover, 1923). What is not clear is whether Goluska had access to a copy of the original issue, a photocopy, or some other printing of the text, in any event he did the translation himself. The text consists of design principles conceived by the artist, El Lissitzky (1890–1941). Lissitzky was one of several Russian artists, designers and poets active around the years of the Russian Revolution who interested Goluska and whose work he translated into English and issued under his private press imprint, imprimerie dromadaire. Goluska had a master’s degree in Russian from the University of Toronto and had also studied Modern Languages as an undergraduate there. He had a number of Cyrillic types in his printshop and was quite comfortable reading and translating texts in languages other than English. He left his large collection of wood and metal type to Andrew Steeves at Gaspereau Press in Kentville, Nova Scotia.

Goluska’s 1984 imprimerie dromadaire spring catalogue lists this piece with the description: El Lissitzky: The Topography of Typography 4 pages. 11 by 8 inches. Composed in Linotype Trade Gothic Cond., handset Alternate Gothic, and various wood types. 75 copies printed in black, red, & yellow on mouldmade Nideggen. January 1983 $14.

Artifact Text

Cover;
El Lissitzky | The Topology [o]f Typography | imprimerie dromadaire

Back cover;
Translated, designed, composed, & vandercooked by Glenn Goluska at imprimerie dromadaire, Toronto, January 1983 (Dromadary ornament)

Inside, left page;
words on the printed page are to be seen, not heard | conventional words communicate ideas, letters give ideas shape. | economy of expression—optics, not phonetics. | the design of the bookspace through the material of composition & according to the laws of typographic mechanics must reflect the strains & stresses of the content.

Inside, right page;
the design of the bookspace through the material of the process block, which creates the new optics. The supernaturalistic reality of the perfected eye. | the continuous page-sequence—the bioscopic book. | the new book demands new writers. inkwells & goose quills are dead. | the printed page transcends time & space. The printed page, the infinity of the book, must be transcended. THE ELECTRO-LIBRARY !